The Birth of Civilization






Earth : approximately 6 billion years old
Human-Like Creatures: appeared 3-5 million years ago in Africa
Erect, Tool-Using Early Humans: spread over
Africa, Europe, & Asia 1-2 million years ago
Homo Sapiens: emerged some 200,000 years ago
Earliest Fully Modern Human Remains : date to about 90,000 years ago

 Earliest Humans: hunter/gatherers/fishers
 Agriculture began 8000 B.C.E.



Cultivated plants
Raised livestock
Made air-tight pottery for food storage
Humans settled in small communities now that they could produce their own food.

 Producers of food
 Settled and more complex life
 Increased harvests through use of irrigation
 Towns and cities with impressive structures
 Flourishing commerce
 Developed writing to keep records and and inventories

 Specialized occupations
 Complex religions
 Social hierarchy



Ways of living built up by a group and passed on from one generation to another
It includes:
 Courtship practices






Child-rearing techniques
Material goods: Ex.- types of shelter & clothing
Ideas
Institutions
Beliefs
Language






Dates from 1-2 million years ago to about
10,000 B.C.E.
Small groups of hunters, gatherers, & fishers
- not producers of food
Used tools of stone and wood
Learned to make and use fire
Acquired language to pass on knowledge




Depended on and feared nature
Practiced religion and magic to help them with their fears
Sexual division of labor
 Men hunted & fished


Women gathered plants to eat, had babies, made clothing
Because women worked with plants, the beginnings of agriculture have been attributed to them
The beginning of agriculture began the Neolithic Age

 Began about 8,000 B.C.E. in the Near East
 Shifted from just hunting and gathering to a settled agricultural way of life





Domesticated animals
Domesticated plants
Made pottery
Wove cloth from flax & wool
Cared for crops from planting to harvest

 Built permanent buildings like those in Catal
Hayuk
 Populations grew when there was a steady supply of food
 Humans were beginning to control nature and this was an important pre-condition for the beginnings of civilization

 Neolithic societies began in:




Near East – around 8000 B.C.E. (wheat)
China around 4000 B.C.E. (millet, rice)
India around 5500 B.C.E. (wheat)
Americas - around 2500 B.C. E. (corn, beans, & squash)

Emergence of Civilization
4000-1000 B.C.E.
 Mesopotamia in Tigris-Euphrates River
Valley
 Egypt in Nile River Valley
 Indus River Valley Civilization in India
 Yellow River Basin Civilization in China


All took form during the Bronze Age
All had urban centers, monumental architecture, hierarchical societies, & writing

 Cities were administrative, religious, manufacturing, entertainment, & commercial centers
 Writing was complex
 Kings were divine
 Civilizations had a king, military, aristocrats, priests, peasants, & slaves



Emerged around 3500 to 3000 B.C.E.
First city was Sumer





Farming community
People worked together for survival
As more towns formed, there was a need for central control
A king became the central ruler
Writing system was cuneiform used for records and literature like Gilgamesh

 Religion






Polytheistic
Gods of nature
People worked to keep gods happy
Life was harsh and gods seemed whimsical
This led to a pessimistic outlook on life and felt afterlife would be worse
Written about in Gilgamesh
– prince is looking for immortality



Priests used to share the responsibility of governing, but there was a gradual separation of church and state
Ziggurats- temples of mud brick built on mound to be closer to gods and to protect it from flooding; Ex – ziggurat at Ur still exists

 Sumer had basic elements of civilization:



Well-defined government
Hierarchical society
Regular economic surpluses



Trade, artisans, & merchants
Writing
Religion
 Unified
Lasted until about 2000 B.C.E.





King Sargon I conquered Sumer and other city-states of Mesopotamia between 2370 and 2130 B.C.E. and created the Akkadian Empire
Introduced new language but kept cuneiform for records and literary works
Empire lasted only 200 years; overthrown by invaders
Sumerian city-states re-emerged until 2000 B.C.E.



Established in early 18 th century B.C.E. by
Hammurabi and the Amorites when they unified
Mesopotamia
Hammurabi
 Seen as one of the greatest rulers of early civilizations



Brought order out of chaos
Had officials around his empire to carry out his laws
Codified his laws: The Code of Hammurabi

 Code of Hammurabi

Listing of cases; what happens if…


Regulated the rights of the 3 Amorite classes: free people, state dependents, & slaves
Penalties differed according to social status: fines, corporal punishment, mutilation, & execution



Extended Sumerian knowledge in astronomy
& mathematics
Set up 60 minute hour & 360 o circle
 Expanded commerce
 Used a common language
 Built elaborate public buildings, royal palaces, & the hanging gardens

 Babylonian Empire fell around 1600 B.C.E. to the Hittites from Central Asia
 The Hittites fell to other invaders and small kingdoms arose from 1200 – 900 B.C.E.








Emerged N.E. Africa around 3000 B.C.E.
Benefited from Mesopotamian technology and trade
Flourished for 2000 years but lasted for 3000 years
Located in fertile delta along the Nile River
Nile flooded at regular, predictable intervals
The silt left behind contributed to bountiful crops
Because of this, Egyptians felt they were pleasing their gods and so had an optimistic outlook

 Egypt was divided into 2 parts, upper and lower, until united by Narmer, the first pharaoh
 Its history has been divided into 3 Kingdoms



Old Kingdom 2575-2130 B.C.E
Middle Kingdom 1938-1600 B.C.E.
New Kingdom 1540-1075 B.C.E.
There were times of instability between each period

 Pharaohs




Divine rulers who were to keep gods happy
Developed large bureaucracy of priests & officials
Local governors supervised irrigation and public works
Most Egyptians were peasant farmers who were supervised and heavily taxed; some built pyramids for pharaohs like Khufu at Giza

 Religion




Polytheistic for the most part
Amon-Re was the sun god who created the universe
Osiris was god of the Nile and offered the hope of immortality to masses
Pharaoh Amenhotep IV tried to create a monotheistic faith for his people

 Writing




Used for texts and records
Hieroglyphics - picture symbols
Wrote on papyrus made from plant of same name
Deciphered finally by a Frenchman named Jean-
Francois Champollian using Rosetta Stone

 Science



Established 12-month year with 3 10-day weeks
Had some working knowledge of some medicines and contraceptives
Knew how to mummify a body

 Culture




Virtually unchanged for thousands of years stability and optimism reflected in their view of life and the afterlife
Static and stratified society
Fairly isolated

Indus Civilization 2250-1750 B.C.E.
 Known as the Indus-Valley Culture or the
Harappan Civilization
 Lasted only a few centuries
 This Indus culture was truly discovered in the
1920s at the Harappa site
 Today there are 2 main sites Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro plus some smaller towns

 They had




Bronze tools
Large cities with similar lay-outs; population of 35,000+
Writing (not yet deciphered)
A diversified social and economic organization
Having 2 cities that are so alike indicates a strong central government with good economic and communication systems

 Each city had




Walled citadel on raised platform to the west; contained main public buildings, large bath, and temples town proper to the east laid out in a grid pattern
Each town had a granary, a cemetery, covered drains and sewers
House were built around a central courtyard with rooms facing inward; no windows






Economy based on agriculture
Had cloth woven from cotton
Made metal tools
Used a potter’s wheel
It is believed there was trade between the Indus
Valley and Mesopotamia because Indus stamps have been found in Mesopotamia

 Material culture








Bronze and stone sculptures
Copper and bronze tools and vessels
Black on red painted pottery
Stone and terra cotta figurines
Toys
Silver vessels
Gold jewelry
Some decorative brick work

 There were no mosaics, no friezes, and no large sculpture
 Religion



Dominated by priestly class who were intermediaries between the people and their gods
Fertility and reproduction were the main themes
Ritual bathing



Around 2000 B.C.E. the Indus Civilization went into decline
We aren’t sure what caused its demise:



Invasion?
Flooding?
Perhaps a combination of factors

 Semi-nomadic invaders who reached India about 1800 B.C.E
 They were horsemen, cattle-herders
 They brought a new language, a new social organization, new techniques of warfare, and new religious ideas found in their Vedas, a sacred text
 Patrilineal society






Gods were predominantly male
Marriage was monogamous but polygamy did exist; widows could remarry
Tribes ruled by chieftain chosen for his military prowess
Originally there were 2 social classes:nobles and commoners
A third was later added: Dasas or darker conquered people

 Later, 4 classes or varnas:




Priestly Brahmans
Warrior nobles
Peasants and tradesmen
Servants
Dasas were excluded
This was a precursor to the rigid Indian caste system

 Material culture:







Semi-nomads who had little
Had gray painted pottery
Built wood, thatch, or mud-brick houses
Measured wealth in cattle
Were good at carpentry and bronze work
Used gold for ornamentation
Made cloth from wool






Planted grains
Made and drank Soma, intoxicating drink used in religious ceremonies
Sang, danced, had chariot races, and gambled
Artisans made gold products, baskets, cloth, and pottery
Products found their way into Mesopotamia

 Religion






Polytheists
Gods resembled humans
Chief god was Indra, god of war and storm
Worship based on animal sacrifice or made offerings of food
Increasing formalism as the years passed
Not yet the concept of reincarnation or transmigration







 4000 B.C.E. agriculture began in the southern end of
Yellow River
Raised millet, cabbage, rice, and soybeans
When soil was exhausted, the town would move
Used axes, hoes, spades, and sickle-shaped knives
Had domesticated pigs, sheep, cattle, dogs, and
Chickens
Used pottery for storage
Lived in pit houses

 Traditional history speaks of 3 ancient dynasties:



Xia 2205 -1766 B.C.E.; founded by Yu who controlled the flooding with dikes and canals
Shang 1766-1050 B.C.E. ; conquered other tribes and laid foundation for Chinese civilization
Zhou 1050-256 B.C.E.

 Shang







Made up of warlike nomads
Military aristocracy went to war in chariots
Non-Shang subject people were the foot soldiers
Used spears and compound bows
Captured prisoners were enslaved
Ruled by hereditary kings with strong authority
Made sacrifices to their ancestors who interceded with the gods; also had human sacrifices







Had writing
Had calendar with a month of 30 days and a year of 360 days; made adjustments periodically
Calendar told when to plant and when to harvest
Writing taught to those in bureaucracy
Bronze first used around 2000 B.C.E. and had advanced methods of casting
Used bronze for weapons, armor, chariot fittings, and ceremonial vessels

 Social Classes


Stratifies society
Weapons in the hands of aristocrats


King and his court lived in a walled city in spacious houses with opulent lifestyle
Peasants lived outside the city in cramped pit houses, underground hovels

 Last Shang kings were weak, cruel, and tyrannical
 Subjects rebelled
 The Zhou conquered the Shang by 1050
B.C.E

 Zhou






Continued Shang pattern of life and rule
Formed agrarian- based city-stae
Social hierarchy was similar to Shang
Zhou were backward people until they adopted
Shang culture
Used Chinese ideographic writing
Cast bronze for ceremonial vessels

 Mandate from Heaven


Explained why Zhou were ruling and not the
Shang
Said the “deity above” was appalled by the Shang wickedness and had withdrawn their favor from the Shang and had given it to the Zhou
Zhou Dynasty lasted until the late 3 rd century B.C.E.

 Zhou king was the head of the senior branch of the family
 Other relatives ruled in outlying towns
 King had a group of professional bureaucrats known as the “shi” – educated men who acted as clerks, scribes, overseers, and advisors
 Practiced agriculture – mainly millet, wheat, and rice




Had irrigation and iron farm equipment
As the population expanded, so did their territory
Religion


Human sacrifice ended
Males became more dominant in the family

 Manners were very important to the Zhou
The rough nomads had become civilized
By 8 th century B.C.E., Zhou Dynasty was in decline.
Control diminished. Rebellions occurred
Out of this chaos came some of China’s greatest thinkers






30,000 years ago, it is believed that Asians crossed over a frozen land bridge called Beringia, to follow herds of animals
They moved into the Americas going southward and to the east
They were hunters, gatherers, & fishermen
Found fish and small game to be plentiful
Grew maize, potatoes, squash, peppers, manioc, beans, & tomatoes

 As people moved further south, strong states emerged in Mesoamerica –the central part of
Mexico and Central America
 Before Spanish conquest, its history is divide into 3 periods



Pre-Classic 2000 B.C.E. – 150 C.E.
Classic 150 – 900 C.E.
Post-Classic 900 – 1521 C.E.

 Olmecs




Earliest civilization
2 centers: San Lorenzo 1200 – 900 B.C.E. And
La Venta 900 – 400 B.C.E.
They had monumental structures and plazas
They had large sculptures

 Andean Civilization




In South America
Farming was possible in coastal valleys near rivers
They also fished
Chavin de Huantar 800 – 200 B.C.E. emerged in highlands of Peru
 Had pottery, textiles, & metals

 Moche and Nazca were 2 other distinctive cultures in that area
 Nazca became known for its lines depicting birds